Limiting The Damage Of Sugar On Your Teeth: A Two-Pronged Approach

There is a general agreement among dental experts that eating a diet rich in sugar is not bad for the teeth. This is mainly because oral bacteria feed on sugar, which means the more sugar you eat the more you will be feeding the bacteria on your teeth. The bacteria may attack your gums (think gum disease) or produce acids that erode your teeth (think dental carriers).

The best way to avoid dental damage related to sugar intake is to approach it in two ways, namely:

Limiting Sugar Intake

Fill Up With Healthy Breakfast

Eating a healthy, well-balanced breakfast helps you reduce sugar intake in two main ways. First, it ensures that sugary foods don't form a huge part of your breakfast. Secondly, you are not likely to fill up on sugary snacks throughout the rest if the morning if you are full.

Recognize Hidden Sugar

Not every food that contains sugar will be sugary in taste. There is "hidden" sugar in things like alcohol, bread, some baked beans, and protein bars, among others. The best thing is to judge food by its ingredients and not by its taste.

Recognize Sugar in All Its Variants

Another thing you should know is that sugar in food is not always listed as "sugar" in the list of ingredients. There are numerous names of sugar such as fructose, dextrose, and rice syrup (these are just three examples), among others.   

Go to Sleep Early

Many people tend to snack a lot when they stay up late at night, and most of these are sugary snacks. Maybe you like to binge watch on your favorite TV series while eating your favorite snacks.

Don't Leave Sugar On Your Teeth                  

It is not practical or advisable to avoid sugar in all its forms. Therefore, after limiting the intake of sugar, you need to ensure that the little sugar that you do eat don't stay on your teeth for long. Here are a few tips to help you with this:

·         Brush your teeth or rinse your mouth after snacking

·         Chew sugarless gum after snacking (this will help clean the teeth)

·         Take sugary snacks during mealtimes so that you can get rid of the sugar remnants when brushing

Hopefully, you will not suffer sugar-related dental damage anytime soon. All isn't lost, however, if you have already developed some dental issues due to your diet. Most dental problems have solutions; see a dentist, such as James V Bachman DMD, today to see what can be done about your issue.


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